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Coachella Possibly Forced To Move Festival

Written by ubbsJuly 4, 2012

As Rolling Stone reports the annual Coachella festival, attended by over 75,000 fans might be looking for a new home in 2014 or 2015 due to a proposed admissions tax set to be introduced by the Southern Californian Indio City Council.

Text messages intercepted by The Desert Sun from Goldenvoice’s Vice President Skip Paige outlined the plan if the new tax were to pass; “If the tax initiative of putting $4 million to $6 million onto Coachella gets on the ballot, we’re going to take off [in] 2014; 2015 we’ll be at a new facility outside of Indio.”

That $4 to $6 million stems from a budget cut that the council look to bounce and will result a theoretical $18 dollar increase on the ticket price that Paige believes is closer to $36 – something he wouldn’t want to force on punters and a cost that would likely see the festival cover.

The good and bad news is the original measure was turned down by the City Council but could be circumnavigated with a petition run by council member Sam Torres, which would need approximately 2,700 Indio residents to sign for the petition to go forward.

It’s rumoured that the festival was actually seeking new grounds as far back as two years due to no long term deal in place, as politely put by Indigo mayor Glenn Miller “because there isn’t one,”

At the moment it’s a war of the worlds but we’ll see how this one pans out.

Sam Torres, the Indio city councilman who proposed the tax increase, announced that he would suspend his activity on the admission tax increase due to the potential negative impact of the festival’s threatened move.

Sam Torres:“The potential for the music festivals to move out of the city exists, and if this should occur it would negatively impact the region; I cannot in good conscience allow this to happen no matter how dire the city’s circumstances.”Mr. Torres adds,“My sincere hope is that we can now move past this episode and I personally look forward to working to enhance relationships.”